Nuv
by EwokPoet
Summary: Luufi hates the Festival of Love, and so does Talthuk. Luufi also hates Talthuk and the dislike is mutual. But once forced to attend the Festival of Love, they will have to work together. The events lead up to the day they will never forget...


The Festival of Love had got to have been worst thing in the world she knew; and she knew much more of the said world than her parents did at her age of thirteen snows, more than most of her fellow friends - if she could call them so - could ever imagine.

The Festival of Love was worse than skill tests, worse than using a dry brush on particularly fresh parchment (not that parchment was a good thing after all that flimsi she brought with her and eventually used up!), worse than being out on the platforms alone - without her brother, parents or aunt.

The Festival of Love was all of that… _at once_!

It was one whole day, eighteen standard hours of what she clearly saw as agony: all those irritating stories about Kyoopid and how he will bless you with love if you find him and give him a chak card, all those stupid notes sweeter than the sweetest of the honey melons and those wild dances where everybody was expected to mingle with whomever they like. None of that was for her. She wanted to spend the day at home or at the Trading post, the only place with any technology available in the radius of…whatever.

At her age, mom and dad were already flirting; they would occasionally brush against each other, smile or giggle. When she would ask them about it, she would get different answers about how that used to be, who noticed whom first and there were occasions where she wasn't sure if this was the same story they were telling, or the story about the two same lovers at all. From mom's point of view, everything was incredibly wonderful, from dad's it was like a nightmare. For some reason, she went with what he was saying, and figured out that love is too much of a Phlog dropping to be bothered with.

Maybe if she was to lie in her hammock all day, nobody would figure out that she's not at the Council Hut? It's not like anybody would notice that she was gone – Talthuk and Grael bully her at every single occasion; Theesa is at the Place of Sickness with a nasty throat infection. Without her best friend around, she wouldn't be able to defend herself. And it's not like her brother would care to help her out – all he ever does is try to get attention, fail at whatever he is trying to prove, and then claim that his life is "ruined".

So, she sat there, curled up in her little hammock in the corner, with her blanket over her head, stuffing its ends into her ears, as the Council Hut was pretty close and the giggles, singing out of tune and occasional rattling of more trinkets than Ewoks present, were driving her mad.

And then somebody lifted the blanket.

"Daddy?"

"Luufi? I didn't know you were here, I thought you were already at the party. I almost thought that a small predator found its way into your hammock and I didn't know where my axe was. What would have happened if I found it and…err…what was I about to say…why did you sneak back in through the window?"

Teebo lost his bordok cart of thought again.

"Um, dad, windows can be closed when it's cold now, remember? I wasn't even out. I just sneaked behind your back while you were cleaning your ceremonial drums and decided to…have an early night."

"Why?"

Luufi then did what she was best at – responding to a question with a question.

"Daddy, how was your first Festival of Love?"

"Let's not talk about it."

"Impossible!" Luufi thought to herself. Daddy always wanted to talk about everything, except maybe his and mommy's first kiss and that one occasion where mom rejected him and came up with names of much older Ewoks, one of whom apparently didn't even exist. After a minute of two of awkward silence, her father continued onto the previous conversation, as if she had never asked him anything.

"Chak, the drums. Why don't you come with mom and me? We were asked to play a couple of numbers and we can't say no to our Great Chieftess."

"Great Chiefess Kneesaa would be even greater if she had the time to take care of her sons, two miserable lurdos who won't give me peace!" Luufi thought to herself, but she smiled instead.

"All right, dad, I'm going. I'll stick to you."

So they crossed the main square to the Council Hut. She greeted the Great Chieftess and proceeded to hide behind her parents, as they were getting everything ready for their performance. She took a glass of chak juice and sat at the window. For a while, she was looking in the direction of the Trading post.

"What's the matter, Luufi? Munyip got your tongue, huh? Did Kyoopid hit you?"

That was the last voice she wanted to hear. She turned around and saw Talthuk. He was holding a whole bottle of chak juice in one, and a bunch of messily-formed meat buns in bread in another.

"No, he didn't." she responded and thought "But whoever he is, he should hit you, as many times as possible."

"That's strange…with everything you know about fancy life on PooPoo, one'd think you found yourself a suitor by now."

"Arandee, my early life was not 'fancy life' on 'PooPoo', for your information. It's not my fault I was not born here. When will you get over it?"

"By the Father Tree, the only thing anybody has to get over here is you...get over yourself…you sound like your mother!"

She knew she didn't. As a matter of a fact, she knew she did not want to sound like her mother. Could it be that she was imitating her to a certain extent?

"And you, you sound like your father. Mom said that she wanted to fight him a couple of times when they all were our age. Also, if you're so offended by off-world stuff, why are you eating those SLIDERS? Don't you know where they were invented? At a diner on, as you say, PooPoo!"

He looked at the pile of sliders on his plate. He was not going to throw food away regardless of where it was from; after all his great aunt made it and dad once said she was quite dangerous back in the days. He had to change the subject.

"What's a 'diner'?"

Luufi giggled.

"He doesn't know what a diner is; he doesn't know what a diner is!"

Talthuk frowned. The older they were, the harder it was to annoy Luufi. Maybe he should ask his father about what else girls are for, other than to annoy. Or maybe Sunee, Sunee knows everything.

Pleased with herself, Luufi headed back to the window, only to see her aunt Malani take her spot.

"D-did you see that?"

"Chak...and I am not sure if that is how I would handle it."

"Why? Talthuk has been bullying me for a long time. He needs to know whom he's dealing with. What a simpleton!"

This wokling was so strange. Sometimes she was like her father and that's when they were attacking her. Sometimes she was like her mother and that's when she was attacking others. But most of the time, she seemed lost. In this case, it would probably make sense to remind her that everybody used to be a "simpleton" come twenty snows ago, but would that even get under this self-righteous kid's green hood?

Malani shook her head. "It's the Festival of Love, Luufi. Be kind to others."

On the other side of the hut, Taltkuk was getting advice from his uncles.

"Other things girls are for, other things girls are for...not sure." Uncle Widdle was almost puzzled. "We weren't teasing them when we were younger, anyway; your dad was a far better target. And then he'd go and ignore Luufi's aunt, regardless of how much she would try to comfort him."

Uncle Weechee had a somewhat different take on things. "Chak, but it's not like he was much better to your mother, either. A lot like you right now, with one difference: you are avoiding being friends with a girl just because you're afraid she's too smart for you. He knew your mother had a crush on him."

"She had the life I can only have in my dreams..." mumbled the youngster, not denying any of the the accusations, to his uncles' surprise.

"But does she really, really remember it that well?" Weechee put his index finger on the boy's forehead. "Or is half of that just what her parents told her? I'll tell you what: why don't the two of you stop acting like miserable lurdos and join the other woklings and young Ewoks in search of Kyoopid instead?"

"Whatever…" Talthuk was looking at his uncles, angry that he complained to them in the first place. As he stepped to the centre of the hut, Luufi was heading in his direction, similarly unhappy after a conversation with her aunt.

"So…goopa." they spoke at the same time.

"Would you like to go and look for Kyoopid?" Luufi asked Talthuk "I was just told not to act the way I do, at least I not today, so…"

"…chak, I would. Whatever the point of that is."

The two approached a group of excited woklings and their fellow adolescents; who – while not as enthusiastic as the bare-headed little ones – seemed to be genuinely interested in Kyoopid. They all stood in a circle around a blue-hooded female Ewok who was to lead them - a happy, young-at-heart soul they all knew as Luufi and Yehan's aunt, Malani. She clapped her hands and blew the little whistle she wore around her neck.

"Arandee, youth of the Bright Tree Village! It's the Festival of Love and we know who likes it the most. No, I'm not talking about the loving couples and those who are hoping to romance somebody they've had their eyes on for a while." She winked. "I'm talking about _you_! The time has come! You know what to do – search the grove and find Kyoopid."

"Kyoopid, Kyoopid, Kyoopid!" The woklings were clearly excited and the designated nanny had to tell them to keep it down.

"I'm so not taking part in this!" Yehan shook his head in protest. "I love my aunt, I love the tradition, but this is too silly." He left the group and went to check on his adoptive parents.

"T'hesh, Yehan, why do you have to spoil everything?" yelled Luufi. Then she bit her tongue, realizing that she was close to spoiling it all herself, together with the other usual suspect, Talthuk.

The group leader coughed and looked at her niece, who grinned and stopped talking.

"Remember, certain places are off-limits: the Trading Post, the river banks and the abandoned single huts. Kyoopid can be pretty much everywhere else. You have until the sunset to find him. He will hand over all the chak cards he was given to me and I will draw the winners."

"The winner…s?" One of the adolescent Ewoks was suspicious. That didn't sound like the old Kyoopid chases.

"Chak. To make it more fun this year, you'll be going in groups of two. This is also helpful, because you'll learn how to work together." Malani clapped her hands. Most adults were close to giggling at their little ones – the awkwardness of collaboration with others, one of whom may be your secret admirer was no longer bothering them and they found their children's approach to it funny.

Malani started handing over the chak cards. "There you go – Grael and Lefti, Theesa and…I'm sorry, I forgot that Theesa is not here, Rabin and Da-Naa…"

She was listing pairs one after another. Most were of mixed gender.

"…and the last pair would be…Luufi and Talkthuk."

She turned around and winked to the Great Chieftess, her husband and the band. Then she turned to the two belligerent youngsters. They both shook their heads and dragged their feet towards Malani to pick their chak cards.

…

Luufi and Talthuk were in the woods, wondering how and where to search for the Ewok dressed as Kyoopid. The truce they agreed to in presence of their aunts and uncles was nowhere in sight after three clouds' runs of search.

"Great." Talthuk rolled his eyes. "I'm stuck here with you, looking for a lurdo wearing a giant diaper."

"And I'm stuck here all day, while I could have been surfing the HoloNet at the Trading post." Luufi stuck her tongue out at him.

"Stop that."

"No, _you_ stop that."

Another couple was going back to the village, with no chak card in sight. Luufi had a thought.

"Do you see it? Everybody who's already handed over a chak card seems to be arriving from the same corner of the forest! If we go there, we'll find Kyoopid. It's simple."

"Nonsense! That would be too easy. Kyoopid's got to be going from one place to another and we need to use the scouting skills we learned." Talthuk quickly dismissed the idea. "Are we meant to grow up proud warriors or not?"

Luufi was more or less sure that Talthuk was taking this too far; but had she complained, they would be arguing about where she came from again and she wasn't up for that. Instead of it, she just nodded and let her friend drag her to the dark, hollowed out tree nearby.

"Here? Why would Kyoopid be hiding _here_? And why does the snow look so strange around this tree?"

"It's like you arrived to Endor yesterday…you just don't understand nature, Luufi. K'vark, it's been ten snows! One would think you're the adopted one, not Yehan!"

"T'hesh!" snapped Luufi and stuffed Talthuk's mouth with the front bib of his hood, as he stood there, not sure what has just happened, "It's not nice to use the k-word, either I will tell Wicket and Kneesaa!" She turned around, for a little victorious smile that he was not meant to see.

"Mmmmmph mmmmph!"

"There is no use sighing, Talthuk!"

Talthuk pulled out the fabric out of his mouth. "I am not sighing!"

"And get that hand off my back! If you're out to scare me, this is not the way to do it. Hollow tree, scary noises…you're too predictable."

"Both of my hands are here, Luufi…I am trying to light this lantern."

Talthuk swallowed a lump. The sighing was getting louder. Luufi muttered something about high mortality rates in the past, and pulled out a thunderlight. As she illuminated the walls of the hole, the sight of two hanadaks, one on top of the other, came to life.

"Aaaaaah!" Luufi screamed, dropped her gadget and ran as far as her little stubby legs were carrying her.

"Wait for me!" cried Talthuk, following her out of the hollow tree, dashing through the snow as if his dear life depended on it.

Had they looked back, they would have seen one of the beasts pick up the thunderlight and stuck it in its mouth; and the other, apparently angry, slapping their partner upside their face, until they swallowed it.

At the Council Hut, the Ewok dressed as Kyoopid was handing the chak cards over to Malani.

"I found this one on the boards outside; all the other cards were given to me by participants."

Malani observed the spare card from all possible angles, as if that would help her determine who lost it. Just then, Luufi and Talthuk ran inside, panting.

"I lost my thunderlight to some beasts in a hollow tree!" Luufi was crying and stomping her feet. All her hairs were up.

"It was the hanadaks! They were playing leapfrog!" Talthuk added and finally stopped to catch a breath. It was not raining outside, yet he looked as if he had just hid from a downpour.

Everybody laughed.

Luufi's dad raised his hand to say something, but the Great Chieftess gave him a look of utter disapproval and he took a step back.


End file.
